Enhanced animation generation based on motion matching using local bone phases

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for enhanced animation generation based on using motion mapping with local bone phases. An example method includes accessing first animation control information generated for a first frame of an electronic game including local bone phases representing phase information associated with contacts of a plurality of rigid bodies of an in-game character with an in-game environment. Executing a local motion matching process for each of the plurality of local bone phases and generating a second pose of the character model based on the plurality of matched local poses for a second frame of the electronic game.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57 and made apart of this specification.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and techniques for animationgeneration. More specifically, this disclosure relates to using motionmatching techniques with local bone phases for dynamically generatinganimation.

BACKGROUND

Electronic games are increasingly becoming more realistic due to anincrease in available processing resources. This increase in realism mayallow for more realistic gameplay experiences. For example, elementsthat form an in-game world, such as characters, may be morerealistically presented. In this example, the elements may beincreasingly rendered at higher resolutions, with more detailedtextures, with more detailed underlying meshes, and so on. While thisadded realism may be beneficial to an end-user of an electronic game, itmay place a substantial burden on electronic game developers. As anexample, electronic game developers may be required to create very rich,and detailed, models of characters. As another example, electronic gamedesigners may be required to create fluid, lifelike, movements of thecharacters.

With respect to the example of movement, characters may be designed torealistically adjust their arms, legs, and so on, while traversing anin-game world. In this way, the characters may walk, run, jump, and soon, in a lifelike manner. With respect to a sports electronic game,substantial time may be spent ensuring that the characters appear tomimic real-world sports players. For example, electronic game designersmay spend substantial time fine-tuning movements of an underlyingcharacter model. Movement of a character model may be, at least in part,implemented based on movement of an underlying skeleton. For example, askeleton may include a multitude of objects (e.g., bones or joints)which may represent a portion of the character model. As an example, afirst object may be a finger while a second object may correspond to awrist. The skeleton may therefore represent an underlying form on whichthe character model is built. In this way, movement of the skeleton maycause a corresponding adjustment of the character model.

To create realistic movement, an electronic game designer may thereforeadjust positions of the above-described objects included in theskeleton. For example, the electronic game designer may create realisticrunning via adjustment of specific objects which form a charactermodel's legs. This manual tuning technique to enable movement of acharacter can result in substantial complexity and significantexpenditure of time by developers.

SUMMARY OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be implemented so as to realize one or more of thefollowing advantages. Utilizing the techniques described herein,realistic motion may be rapidly generated for arbitrary character modelsconfigured for use in electronic games. As will be described, motioncapture information can be used to generate information usable to createrich, life-like, animations for character models. Advantageously, theseanimations may be responsive to real-time user input being provided by auser of an electronic game. The animation system can use local phaseinformation extracted based on how individual body parts of a motioncapture actor contacts external objects. This phase information maytherefore represent local bone phases corresponding to bones (e.g.,arms, legs, hands) of the actor, and may be used to enhance the temporalalignment, and segmentation, of realistic motion for use during motionmatching on each local bone phase.

At present, techniques to generate realistic motion for character modelsmay rely upon designers adjusting character models to define differenttypes of motion. For example, to define running, a designer may stringtogether certain adjustments of joints on a skeleton of a charactermodel. In this example, the designer may adjust the knees, cause amovement of the arms, and so on. While this may allow for motion to begenerated, it may also involve a substantial burden on the designer.

A first example technique to, at least in part, automate generation ofcharacter motion, may include using software to automatically adjust askeleton. For example, templates of running may be pre-defined. In thisexample, a designer may select a running template which may causeadjustment of the joints on a skeleton. Thus, the designer may morerapidly generate motion for characters in an in-game world. However,this first example technique may lack the realism of real-worldmovement. For example, since different templates are being selected, thelifelike differences in movement between real-world persons is lost.

In contrast, the techniques described herein allow for the rapidgeneration of character animation based on automated analyses of motioncapture information. For example, an actor may be placed in a motioncapture studio. The actor may then perform different movements, andmovement of different portions of the actor (e.g., joints) may be storedby a system. Additionally, contact with an external environment may berecorded. Thus, the specific foot fall pattern used by an upper echelonboxer or basketball player may be recorded. Additionally, the specificcontact made by an actor's hands with respect to a basketball, football,and so on, may be recorded. This recorded information, referred toherein as local bone phases, may be used to increase a realismassociated with animation generation.

The animation system can use local motion matching phases for each localbone phase in order to generate animation based on motion captureinformation. This segmented approach using local motion matching phasesmay allow for enhanced nuance associated with the animation. As anexample, a real-life wrestler may be used as an actor. In this example,video of the wrestler may be recorded which depicts the wrestler movingabout a ring, interacting with an opponent, performing different moves,and so on. Local bone phase data can be generated based on this video,such that the data can be used during the local motion matchingprocesses to reproduce highly stylized, and personal, movement of thewrestler.

The techniques described herein therefore improve upon the functioningof prior software-based techniques to generate movement of in-gamecharacter models. As described above, prior techniques relied upon bydesigners to adjust positions of joints on a skeleton underlying acharacter model. For example, different key frames or clips of animationmay be produced. In this example, an electronic game may interpolatebetween key frames or play these clips of animation. In contrast, thetechniques described herein allow for real-time generation of motion ofthe character model. The motion may adhere to motion analyzed from oneor more motion capture actors. Advantageously, the animation system canreproduce specific motions performed by the actors while also being ableto generate animations which were not specifically depicted in themotion capture information.

The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each have severalinnovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for theall of the desirable attributes disclosed herein. Although certainembodiments and examples are disclosed herein, inventive subject matterextends beyond the examples in the specifically disclosed embodiments toother alternative embodiments and/or uses, and to modifications andequivalents thereof.

One embodiment discloses a computer-implemented method comprising: asimplemented by a computing system having at least one processorconfigured with specific computer-executable instructions, accessingfirst animation control information generated by a for a first frame ofan electronic game, the first animation control information including afirst character pose of the in-game character and, at least, a pluralityof local bone phases associated with an in-game character of theelectronic game, individual local bone phases representing phaseinformation associated with contacts of at least one rigid bodies of thein-game character with an in-game environment; executing a local motionmatching process for each of the plurality of local bone phasesresulting in a plurality of matched local poses, the local motionmatching process comprising: determining motion matching criteria formatching the local bone phase to local pose animation data for thecorresponding local bone phase; and selecting a local pose from aplurality of eligible local poses corresponding to the local bone phase;generating a second pose of the character model based on the pluralityof matched local poses for a second frame of the electronic game; andcomputing second animation control information for the second frame; andrendering the second frame including at least a portion of the secondcharacter pose of the in-game character within the in-game environmentbased, at least in part, on the second animation control information.

In some embodiments, the local bone phase is represented by a twodimensional vector encoded with local bone phase characteristics of thelocal bone phase. In some embodiments, the local bone phasecharacteristic include position, orientation, velocity, and accelerationof the bone. In some embodiments, selecting the local pose comprisesperforming a nearest neighbor search using the two dimensional vector ofthe local bone phase as compared to two dimensional vectors of localposes in the animation data. In some embodiments, determining motionmatching criteria comprises identifying a motion type associated withthe second pose of the in-game character. In some embodiments,determining motion matching criteria comprises identifying a subset ofthe animation data corresponding to the motion type. In someembodiments, generating the second pose of the character model comprisesblending the plurality of local poses with a global pose to generate thesecond pose. In some embodiments, the first animation controlinformation comprises information aggregated over a prior thresholdnumber of frames. In some embodiments, the local bone phases furtherrepresent phase information associated with an external objectconfigured to be interacted with by the in-game character. In someembodiments, the second animation control information includes updatedlocal bone phases, and wherein the updated local bone phases aredetermined via interpolation of the local bone phases included in thefirst animation control information.

Another embodiment discloses a system comprising one or more processorsand non-transitory computer storage media storing computer-readableinstructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to perform operations comprising: accessing firstanimation control information generated by a for a first frame of anelectronic game, the first animation control information including afirst character pose of the in-game character and, at least, a pluralityof local bone phases associated with an in-game character of theelectronic game, individual local bone phases representing phaseinformation associated with contacts of at least one rigid bodies of thein-game character with an in-game environment; executing a local motionmatching process for each of the plurality of local bone phasesresulting in a plurality of matched local poses, the local motionmatching process comprising: determining motion matching criteria formatching the local bone phase to local pose animation data for thecorresponding local bone phase; and selecting a local pose from aplurality of eligible local poses corresponding to the local bone phase;generating a second pose of the character model based on the pluralityof matched local poses for a second frame of the electronic game;computing second animation control information for the second frame; andrendering the second frame including at least a portion of the secondcharacter pose of the in-game character within the in-game environmentbased, at least in part, on the second animation control information.

In some embodiments, the local bone phase is represented by a twodimensional vector encoded with local bone phase characteristics of thelocal bone phase. In some embodiments, the local bone phasecharacteristic include position, orientation, velocity, and accelerationof the bone. In some embodiments, the computer-readable instructionsfurther configure the one or more processors to perform a nearestneighbor search using the two dimensional vector of the local bone phaseas compared to two dimensional vectors of local poses in the animationdata when selecting the local pose. In some embodiments, thecomputer-readable instructions further configure the one or moreprocessors to identify a motion type associated with the second pose ofthe in-game character when determining motion matching criteria. In someembodiments, the computer-readable instructions further configure theone or more processors to identify a subset of the animation datacorresponding to the motion type when determining motion matchingcriteria. In some embodiments, the computer-readable instructionsfurther configure the one or more processors to blend the plurality oflocal poses with a global pose to generate the second pose whengenerating the second pose of the character model. In some embodiments,the first animation control information comprises information aggregatedover a prior threshold number of frames. In some embodiments, the localbone phases further represent phase information associated with anexternal object configured to be interacted with by the in-gamecharacter. In some embodiments, the second animation control informationincludes updated local bone phases, and wherein the updated local bonephases are determined via interpolation of the local bone phasesincluded in the first animation control information.

The details, including optional details, of one or more embodiments ofthe subject matter of this specification are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other optionalfeatures, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will becomeapparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicatecorrespondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided toillustrate embodiments of the subject matter described herein and not tolimit the scope thereof.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an example dynamic animation generationsystem generating a character pose for a frame of an electronic game.

FIG. 1B is a detail block diagram of the dynamic animation generationsystem.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of the dynamic animation generation systemdetermining local bone phases based on motion capture information.

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of an example process for determining a localbone phase.

FIG. 2C illustrates example graphical representations of the process fordetermining local bone phase.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process for dynamically generatinganimation based on motion matching with local bone phases.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example process for determining animationcontrol information for a subsequent frame.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of computing device according to thepresent disclosure.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

This specification describes, among other things, technical improvementswith respect to generation of motion for characters configured for usein electronic games. As will be described, a system (e.g., the dynamicanimation generation system 100) may implement a motion matching engineto generate realistic motion based on analyses of motion captureinformation. Advantageously, the system may perform substantiallyautomated analyses of the motion capture information such that complexlabeling processes and manual tuning by developers may be avoided. Whileelectronic games are described, it may be appreciated that thetechniques described herein may be applied generally to movement ofcharacter models. For example, animated content (e.g., TV shows, movies)may employ the techniques described herein.

As will be described, the system may generate realistic motion usinglocal bone phases learned from motion capture information. The localbone phases may encode contacts with an external environment by portionsof a motion capture actor. For example, contacts by the actors left andright feet may be recorded. In this example, specifically foot patternsmay be recorded. The local bone phases may encode the contacts into atemporal phase space, which may enhance an understanding of temporalalignment and segmentation of motion.

As will be described, the local bone phase may be used in conjunctionwith local motion matching phases to generate dynamic and realisticanimations. A motion matching engine can be used to segment the motionmatching process based on the local bone phases in order to generate apose for a character. The motion matching engine can have a local motionmatching phase for each local bone phase. The temporal phase space of alocal bone phase can be represented as a two dimensional phase vector.The two dimensional phase vector encodes characteristics of the localbone phase such as position, velocity, orientation, acceleration, andother characteristics. In each local motion matching phase, the motionmatching engine can use the two dimensional phase vectors to identify abest match within the motion capture information for the specific localbone phase. By segmenting the motion matching into local matchingphases, the motion matching engine 120 can better define a cost functionfor matching the motion of the bone (e.g., foot, hand, etc.) with themotion capture data. After identifying the motion match for each localbone phase, the pose generation system 130 can generate a global outputpose for the character model. The pose generation system 130 can blendthe outputs for each local bone phase to determine the output pose forthe character. As will be described, realistic animations may begenerated by the system based on this understanding.

Background—Motion Generation

Motion may be defined, at least in part, based on distinct poses of anin-game character. As an example, each pose may represent a discretesample of the motion to be performed by the in-game character. For thisexample, the pose may identify positions of bones or joints of thein-game character. Thus, if motion is to depict running, each pose mayrepresent a snapshot of the running. For example, a first framegenerated by an electronic game may include the in-game character withboth feet on a surface within the game world. As another example, asecond frame may include the in-game character beginning to move one ofthe feet upwards. It may be appreciated that subsequent frames mayinclude the in-game character moving forward in a running motion.

Typically, the above-described in-game character may be animated toproduce this running motion. For example, an electronic game designermay generate different key frames which depict poses used for therunning motion. In this example, the electronic game designer may createkey frames which depict the in-game character with its feet on asurface, with one leg partially raised upwards, and so on. Duringgameplay, the electronic game may interpolate between these key-framessuch that the in-game character appears to transition between them. Asanother example, clips of animation may be generated by the electronicgame designer for specific motions. In this example, one or more clipsof animation may be generated to represent the running motion. Theseclips may then be played by the electronic game to produce animation.

To generate motions for in-game characters, electronic game designersare increasingly leveraging motion capture studios. For example, amotion capture studio may be used to learn the realistic gait of anactor as he/she moves about the motion capture studio. Specific portionsof the actor, such as joints or bones, may be monitored during thismovement. Subsequently, movement of these portions may be extracted fromimage or video data of the actor. This movement may then be translatedonto a skeleton or rig for use as an underlying framework of one or morein-game characters. The skeleton or rig may include bones, which may beadjusted based on the motion capture images or video. In this way, theskeleton or rig may be animated to reproduce motion performed by theactor.

While motion capture studios allow for realistic motion, they arelimited in the types of motion able to be reproduced. For example, theabove-described skeleton may be animated to reproduced motions whichwere specifically performed by the actor. Other motions may thus need tobe manually created by an electronic game designer. For example, andwith respect to a sports electronic game, a real-life basketball playermay be used as an actor to perform common basketball motions. While thisactor may perform a wide breadth of motions typically performed during abasketball game, as may be appreciated there are other motions whichwill not be recorded. For example, these other motions may be producednaturally by the actor during a real-world basketball game depending onlocations of opponents, the actor's current stamina level, a location ofthe actor with respect to the basketball court, and so on.

Previous efforts at motion matching were used based on global matchingof pose data with motion matching data. However, the global motionmatching is limited to cyclic movements with start and end points. Theglobal motion matching had difficulty automatically generating matchesfor asynchronous movements. This results in the loss of detail ofindividual asynchronous movements associated with individual pose. Theasynchronous characteristics of the movement filtered out as systemattempts to match the global characteristics of the character movementwith the motion capture pose. Accordingly, global motion matching isgenerally limited to cyclic movements. Asynchronous or acyclic movementsneed to be manually programmed by the developers, which is a highlylabor intensive process.

Local Bone Phases

As will be described, the animation techniques described herein mayleverage phase information associated with bones of an actor in a motioncapture studio. A bone, as described herein, may represent a specificportion of the actor which is being monitored in images or videoobtained using the motion capture studio. A bone may also represent anobject which is external to the actor but for which motion is to belearned. Example bones described herein may include a left hand, a righthand, a left foot, a right foot, a ball (e.g., basketball), and so on. Abone may also be referred to herein as a rigid body.

The phase information, referred to herein as ‘local bone phases’, may bedetermined independently for each of the bones. As will be described,phase information for a bone may be determined based on contacts by thebone with an external environment. For example, an actor's left handcontacting a ball, an opponent, a rim, a net, other portions of theactor, and so on, may be identified using video or images of the actorin the motion capture studio. Contacts with the left hand may beaggregated over a period of time and may be represented as a signal,such as signal 260 illustrated in FIG. 2C. The signal may, for example,indicate times at which contact occurred.

The system described herein may analyze the above-described contactsignals, for different periods of time within the motion captureinformation, and determine local bone phases for these periods of time.Advantageously, motion of the actor may be describable, at least inpart, based on these local bone phases. Thus, a specific bouncingpattern of a basketball may be identified. As may be appreciated, thebouncing pattern may be highly variable and asynchronous during areal-world basketball game. For example, a basketball player may morerapidly bounce the ball as the player runs up a court. As anotherexample, a basketball player may bounce the ball with a varied frequencydepending on a location of an opponent with respect to the player. Thesedifferences may be recorded as local bone phases for different periodsof time within the motion capture information. Similarly, the specificfootwork used by a basketball player to evade an opponent may beidentified. This footwork may substantially vary depending on a distanceof the player to the opponent. The footwork may also vary depending onwhether the player is trying to evade the opponent.

The animation system described herein may thus be configured to usethese local bone phases. For example, a motion matching engine 120 maygenerate motion matches for each local bone phase of a character model.In this example, the pose generation engine may use the motion matchesfor each of the local bone phases to output character poses to generateanimation. Advantageously, the motion matching engine 120 may beconditioned on motion types of the local bone phases such that thegenerated animation is based on the above-described contact patterns forthe different motion types. The animation system may produce naturalmotion for in-game characters while adhering to the complex asynchronousball patterns, footwork patterns, and so on described above.

These, and other features, will now be described in more detail.

Dynamic Animation Generation System

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an example dynamic animation generationsystem 100 generating a subsequent character pose 102B based on acurrent character pose 102A. The illustrated dynamic animationgeneration system 100 may represent a system of one or more computers,one or more virtual machines executing on a system of one or morecomputers, and so on. In some embodiments, the dynamic animationgeneration system 100 may represent an application, or other software,which is executed by an electronic game system. Thus, the functionalitydescribed herein may be implemented by an electronic game system duringgameplay of an electronic game. As will be described, the dynamicanimation generation system 100 may implement a motion matching engine120 and pose generation engine 130 to autoregressively output characterposes to generate motion.

In the illustrated example, the character pose 102A depicts an in-gamecharacter dribbling a basketball. This character pose 102A may thereforerepresent a specific pose used in the dribbling motion. Additionally,this character pose 102A may be rendered for output in a particularframe of animation (e.g., frame i). As may be appreciated, fluidanimation may be generated at a threshold frame rate (e.g., 30 framesper second, 60 frames per second). Thus, the particular frame ofanimation may represent one of these frames.

As will be described in more detail, the dynamic animation generationsystem 100 can generate the subsequent character pose 102B based on thecharacter pose 102A. This subsequent character pose 102B may then berendered for output in a subsequent frame of animation (e.g., framei+1). For example, the dynamic animation generation system 100 maydetermine positions, orientations, and so on, of a skeleton or rig whichunderlies the illustrated in-game character. In this example, thein-game character may be rendered to conform to these determinedpositions, orientations, such that the subsequent pose 102B may beoutput.

The dynamic animation generation system 100 may autoregressivelygenerate character poses. For example, FIG. 1A illustrates thesubsequent character pose 102B being generated based on character pose102A. Thereafter, the subsequent character pose 102B may be used, atleast in part, to generate another character pose. As will be described,this generation may be informed based on user input provided by anend-user using an input controller. Thus, the end-user may guide theresulting animation via interactions with the input controller.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating detail of the dynamic animationgeneration system 100. In this illustrated example, the dynamicanimation generation system 100 includes example engines 120 and 130,which are collectively usable to dynamically generate animation.

Animation Control Information

The dynamic animation generation system 100 may generate particularinformation, referred to herein as ‘animation control information’,which may be autoregressively used to generate motion for an in-gamecharacter. For example, the animation control information may indicate acharacter pose (e.g., character poses 102A-102B illustrated in FIG. 1A).As illustrated, animation control information 112A generated for a firstframe (e.g., frame ‘i’) may be used as an input for a second frame(e.g., frame ‘i+1’). Animation control information 112B for the secondframe may be generated by the system 100, and an underlying skeleton orrig of an in-game character may be updated according to an indicatedcharacter pose for the second frame.

In addition to character pose, the animation control information 112Amay include local bone phases 116. As described herein, local bonephases may be determined based on motion capture information of one ormore actors. For example, the local bone phases 116 may be determinedaccording to contacts between certain bones (e.g., portions of theactor) with an external environment. In this example, the bones mayinclude the hands, feet, head, and so on, of the actor. Local bonephases may therefore represent a temporal phase space associated withdifferent types of motion of the actor. The local bone phases can berepresented by 2D phase vectors. As will be described, the local bonephases may be determined for different periods of time within the motioncapture information. Thus, local bone phases may be specific to subsetsof the motion capture information, such as a motion type. With respectto a particular type of motion, such as dribbling while evading anopponent, the combination of local bone phases may encode the uniquesegmentation of motion associated with this dribbling. For example, thespecific dribbling patterns, foot fall patterns, and so on may becaptured in this phase space.

During runtime, such as during gameplay, local bone phases 116 may begenerated for an in-game character. For example, the dynamic animationgeneration system 100 may autoregressively update local bone phasesaccording to the gameplay. As an end user controls an in-game character,the dynamic animation generation system 100 may update the local bonephases according to the character's contact with an in-game environment.

Animation control information 112A may further include character controlvariables 118. These variables 118 may inform the in-game character'smotion. For example, the character control variables 118 may includetrajectory information for the in-game character. In this example, thetrajectory information may indicate positions of the in-game character(e.g., a current position and optionally one or more prior positions),velocity of the in-game character (current velocity and optionally oneor more prior velocities), and so on. The character control variables118 may be used to predict subsequent motion of the in-game character.For example, if the in-game character is running forward in frame ‘i’then it may be determined that the in-game character will remain runningforward in frame ‘i+1’.

Character control variables 118 may additionally include interactionvectors which are usable to describe motion associated with the in-gamecharacter's interaction with an external object or environment (e.g., abasketball) within a game world. For example, and with respect to abasketball game, the interaction vectors may be used to direct ballcontrol, such as ball dribbling (e.g., location, speed, height),controlling switching and turning maneuvers, and also the position ofthe ball. To determine the interaction vectors, the system may determinethree-dimensional pivot vectors associated with the character. Forexample, the three-dimensional pivot vectors may representhorizontally-normalized vectors around a root of the character. Thecharacter control variables may further include label information usedto describe specific types of motion or actions which the character isperforming. Example labels may include Stand or Move and may thereforeindicate whether the character is standing or moving for a window offrames centered on a particular frame. With respect to basketball,example labels may include Dribbling, Holding, Shooting, Passing, and soon.

While the character control variables 118 may be used to predict motion,as may be appreciated the end user may adjust the in-game character'smotion via user input 114. For example, the end user may utilize anelectronic game controller to provide user input in the form ofinteractions with buttons, control sticks, and so on. In theabove-described example in which the in-game character is running, theend user may provide user input 114 to maintain the running. Forexample, the user input 114 may indicate that a certain control stick isbeing pushed forward. However, the user input 114 may also indicate thatthe in-game character is to cease running or perform another movement(e.g., jump, shift directions, stop and shoot a basketball, and so on).

The character control variables 118 and user input 114 may therefore becombined by the dynamic animation generation system 100. In this way,the user input 114 may provide adjustments to motion predicted in frame‘i’. In some embodiments, the character control variables 118 and userinput 114 may be separately weighted prior to combining. Therefore, agreater or lesser weight may be applied to the user input 114.

The animation control information 112A may further include additionalinformation 119. For example, character state information associatedwith an in-game character may be included. The character state mayindicate, for example, the character pose for the in-game character. Forexample, the character state may represent positions, rotations, andvelocities of bones used in an underlying skeleton or rig of the in-gamecharacter.

The additional information 119 may further include conditioningfeatures. For example, conditioning features may be used to describecontacts by the in-game character with an in-game environment. In thisexample, the contacts may indicate contacts with hands, feet, a head, anexternal object (e.g., a basketball), and so on, by the in-gamecharacter with an in-game environment. As may be appreciated, thesecontacts may be used by the dynamic animation generation system 100 toinform the updating of the local bone phases 116 described above.

With respect to a sports electronic game, the conditioning features mayadditionally include ball movement information. For example, theposition and velocity of an in-game basketball may be utilized by thesystem 100 to dynamically generate animation. In this example, thebasketball may be used to inform movement of the in-game character'shands, movement of the ball itself, and so on.

The additional information 119 may further include opponent information.For example, the opponent information may reflect a state of an in-gameopponent with respect to the in-game character. Example information mayinclude labels indicating whether the opponent (or portions thereof) arewithin a threshold radius of the in-game character. Example informationmay further include vectors indicating position samples between theopponent and in-game character along with direction and velocity of theopponent trajectory. An illustration of opponent information is includedin FIG. 5B. As will be described, the dynamic animation generationsystem 100 may be trained in some embodiments using motion captureinformation which includes motion of an actor and at least one otheractor representing an opponent. The dynamic animation generation system100 may use captured data that are indicative of the actor's motions tohandle proximity of the other actor.

Motion Matching Engine

With respect to the illustrated example, the animation controlinformation 112A for frame ‘i’ may then be provided to motion matchingengine 120. The motion matching engine 120 is configured to performlocal motion matching phases using the local bone phase 116. Rather thandoing a global motion match for the entire character pose, the motionmatching engine 120 segments the motion matching process into individualphases, where each local bone phase undergoes a separate motion matchingprocess. By increasing the granularity of motion matching, the motionmatching engine 120 can reduce that conflicting movements of thecharacter's limbs and preserve movement detail. For example, each footmay have different position, velocity, and trajectory information, thatis conflicting for a specific movement. These asynchronous movements canbe captured by using local motion matching phases, thereby increasingthe detail and realism of a character's movements.

The motion network 122 may provide rules and weights for using motionmatching to match the individual local bone phases 116. The motionnetwork can define rules and weights that are specific to differentmotion types in order to better match and generate certain types ofmotion. The motion network 122 can define cost functions and searchingcriteria for use in identifying matches during a search, such as anearest neighbor search. The motion network can further define changesin the search vector and segmentation of search data, such as segmentingsearch data based on motion type. The motion network can determine howto perform motion matching for each of the local bone phases. The motionnetwork can contain information for augmenting the phase features withadditional information such as labels identifying movement styles oraction type. The matching criteria can be based on user input 114,character control variables 118, and the additional information 119. Insome embodiments, for each local bone phase, the motion matching enginecan perform a nearest neighbor search to identify the closest match. Thecost functions defined by the motion network can vary based on motiontype as well as by local bone phase. The weights for each of thevariables in the cost function can be individually tuned. The motionmatching engine can execute the local motion matching process for eachlocal bone phase 116.

Pose Generation Engine

To generate the animation control information 112B for frame ‘i+1’, thedynamic animation generation system 100 includes a pose generationsystem 130. As described above, the motion matching engine 120 maydetermine the matches for each local bone phase 116. For example, themotion matching engine can determine local bone phase 124 match forright and left feet, the right and left hands, and a ball. The localbone phase are segmentations of the character motion, which map to afull-body pose for character. The pose generation system 130 can blendthe local bone phase matches with the character model to generate anupdated character pose. The updated character pose can be output asanimation control information 112B. The pose generation system 130 canuse blending to reduce the occurrence of blurry, or otherwise unnatural,motions in order to adapt to different types of motions and tasks.

In this way, the pose generation system 130 can generate an updatedpose, at least in part, during runtime for each frame, or a subset offrames, based on an output of the motion matching engine 120. The posegeneration system 130 may also use the additional information 119 forframe ‘i’ along with the user input 114. A forward pass through the posegeneration system 130 may be computed and the animation controlinformation 112B for frame ‘i+1’ may be output by the dynamic animationgeneration system 100.

Therefore, the pose generation system 130 may output a character posefor frame ‘i+1’. Similar to the above, the animation control information112B may then be provided as input to the dynamic animation generationsystem 100, which may continue autoregressively generating motion forthe in-game character. The generated motion may be animated by thein-game character through adjustment of, at least, the character pose

Local Bone Phase Process

To ensure that asynchronous motion may be generated, such as motion forfast-paced sports games, the dynamic animation generation system 100 mayuse local bone phases for a multitude of bones associated with motioncapture information. In the examples described below, the bones mayinclude a left foot, a right foot, a left hand, a right hand, and a ballwhich is external to, and can be controlled by, an actor. Thus, thebones include example end effectors along with the ball.

It may be appreciated that these bones may refer to other elements of acharacter model and still fall within the scope of the disclosureherein. For example, additional bones may relate to specific fingers ofthe actor. Additional bones may further relate to rotational informationassociated with an actor. As an example, a bone may represent a rotationof a knee representing an extension of an actor's leg. This may beuseful for electronic games for which motion requires complex rotations.Example electronic games may include wrestling games, racing games, andso on. A bone may represent a rotation of an actor's foot about anankle. Similarly, additional bones may relate to additional objectswhich are utilized by an actor. With respect to sports games, a hockeystick, bat, and so on may represent one or more bones. Furthermore,quadrupeds may be used in a motion capture studio. For quadrupeds, suchas dogs, the four legs of the dog may represent the bones optionallyalong with the tail and/or snout.

FIGS. 2A-2C describe examples for generating local bone phases based onmotion capture information. FIGS. 4A-4B describes the mmm being used togenerate a character pose based on local bone phases.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of the dynamic animation generation system100 determining local bone phases 206 based on motion captureinformation 204. In the illustrated example, the dynamic animationgeneration system 100 is obtaining the motion capture traininginformation 204 from a motion capture database 202. As described herein,the local bone phases 206 may be determined based on contact informationwith an external environment. In some embodiments, the local bone phases206 may be specific to a frame of motion capture information which iscentered on N frames of the motion capture information. Thus, a slidingwindow may be used to determine local bone phases for individual framesof the motion capture information 204. In this way, the local bonephases for may be determined for different periods of time of the motioncapture information (e.g., successively learning local bone phases for Nframes). An example of determining a local bone phase for a frame isdescribed below, with respect to FIGS. 2B-2C.

Example local bone phases 208 are illustrated in FIG. 2A. These localbone phases are included for specific bones and, as described herein,may be independent and separately determined. Thus, the techniquesdescribed herein may avoid the complexities and inaccuracies associatedwith a global phase. As an example, a global phase may be used toglobally align an entire body of an actor. It may be appreciated thatsuch global alignment may be impractical for asynchronous and complexinteractions. Additionally, a global phase may require an understandingof a starting and stopping point for a particular motion. Thus, a globalphase may be used to indicate when an actor starts and stops running.However, for complex actions there may be no global starting andstopping point. Therefore, local phase for each bone may be analyzed andthe local phases for frames of motion capture information may be usedwithout defined starting and stopping points.

The example local bone phases 208 therefore indicate phase informationfor an actor's left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand, and alsofor a ball (e.g., a basketball). Additionally, amplitudes 210 areillustrated in FIG. 2A. The amplitudes may be extracted as parametersfrom the local bone phases 208 and used to represent motion. Forexample, if the actor's left hand is not moving then the associatedamplitude will reduce the local bone phase to zero. In contrast, if atthe same time the actor's right foot is moving then the associatedamplitude will increase. As another example, the amplitude 210 may beused to separate slower and faster movements of similar contact patterns(e.g., walking vs running or dribbling at different speeds).

FIG. 2B is a flowchart of an example process 220 for determining a localbone phase. For convenience, the process 220 will be described as beingperformed by a system of one or more computers (e.g., the dynamicanimation generation system 100).

At block 222, the system accesses motion capture information. Theinformation may be stored according to different motion capture formats,such as BVH and so on. Optionally, the motion capture information mayrepresent image or video data taken at a particular frame rate. Thus,there may be 24, 30, 60, frames per second, which depict an actor movingabout a motion capture studio. Optionally, the actor may have markersusable to track portions of the actor's body. Optionally, computervision techniques may be used to identify specific feature of theactor's body (e.g., hands, arms, and so on). In some embodiments, anexternal object (e.g., a basketball) may have a marker on, or a sensorwithin, the object. Optionally, computer vision techniques may be usedto analyze positions of the external object in the image or video data.

While the description above described use of an actor, in someembodiments video may be obtained of real-world events. For example,video from a real-world sports game may be obtained and analyzed. Inthis example, a particular player may be analyzed identify specificportions of the player's body. Example portions may include the player'shands, feet, head, and so on.

At block 224, the system extracts contact information for a bone. Thesystem may identify contacts by the bone (e.g., a hand, foot, head,external object) with an external environment. For example, the motioncapture information may reflect movement of an actor about a motioncapture studio. In this example, the actor may perform complexcombinations of movements for a threshold amount of time (e.g., oneminute, five minutes, an hour, and so on). The actor may, as an example,represent a basketball player. For this example, the basketball playermay perform movements including dribbling, passing, shooting, blocking,charging, and so on. As will be described, in some embodiments one ormore other actors may be employed to function as opponents. Thus, thebasketball player may perform movements to evade an opponent, shoot overan opponent, dunk on an opponent, and so on.

To extract contact information, the system obtains a frame of video or aparticular image frame included in the motion capture information. Insome embodiments, the frame may represent a particular time stampassociated with positions of bones of an actor's body. For example,certain motion capture studios or software may output positionalinformation associated with markers for different time stamps.

The system then centers a window about the frame. For example, thewindow may represent a threshold number of frames (e.g., 60 frames) andmay be centered on the frame. Thus, the window may include frames prior,and subsequent to, the frame. In some embodiments, the window size maybe adjusted according to a frequency associated with a low pass filterapplied to the contact information. As an example, the series window maybe updated to reflect use of a threshold number of samples (e.g., 13samples, with a cut-off of frequency for the filter of 3.25).

The contact information may be identified as a ‘1’ for a contact of thebone with an external environment or optionally with the actorhimself/herself. Similarly, the contact information may be identified asa ‘0’ if there is no contact. Thus, for the samples identified above thesystem may generate a contact signal, an example of which is illustratedin FIG. 2C with respect to signal 260.

To identify a contact, in some embodiments the system may perform acollision check based on analyzing a frame. For example, the system maydetermine whether an actor's bone is within a threshold distance of aportion of an external object. In this example, the distance may bedetermined based on the motion capture information. For example, aposition (e.g., a three-dimensional position) of the bone may bedetermined from the information. As another example, the position of thebone may be identified based on analyzing the frame. The system may thenidentify whether the bone contacted, or likely contacted, the externalobject.

The system may also determine a velocity difference between the bone andan external object. If the velocity difference is less than a threshold,and the bone is within a threshold distance of the external object, thenthe system may identify a contact with the external object.

At block 226, the system normalizes the contact information. The systemmay determine the mean and standard deviation of the contacts within thewindow identified in block 224. Based on the mean and standarddeviation, the system normalizes the contact signal. An example of anormalized contact signal is illustrated in FIG. 2C with respect tosignal 264. The system may then apply a low-pass filter, such as aButterworth filter. An example of the resulting signal is illustrated inFIG. 2C, with respect to signal 266.

At block 228, the system extracts local bone phase associated with asinusoidal function. The system may determine parameters associated withthe sinusoidal function as fit to the contact signal. Example parametersinclude an amplitude, a maximum bone velocity, a phase offset, and avertical offset. For example, the system may fit the followingsinusoidal function for frame i centered in the window of N frames:

Ω(F _(i) ,t)=α_(i) sin(f _(i) *t−s _(i))+b _(i)

Once the sinusoidal function is fit, the system can determine a1-dimensional phase value:

ϕ_(i)=(f _(i) *t−s _(i))mod 2π

The system may use the above-described amplitude, along with a maximumbone velocity magnitude within a frequency-based frame window togenerate local 2D phase vectors for the motion associated with frame i:

$P_{i} = {{❘{❘v_{\Phi}❘}❘}*a_{i}*\begin{pmatrix}{\sin\phi_{i}} \\{\cos\phi_{i}}\end{pmatrix}}$

where the frequency-based frame window may be defined as:

$\Phi = \frac{1}{\Delta\phi_{i}}$

The 2D phase vector identified above may be assigned as the local bonephase for the bone for the frame. The system may similarly determinelocal bone phases for remaining bones for this frame.

An example of fitting the sinusoidal function is described below,however it may be appreciated that other techniques may be employed andfall within the scope of the disclosure. The system may infer Fi byminimizing a root mean squared error loss defined for the window of Nframes. For fitting, a global probabilistic optimization (e.g., geneticalgorithm and particle swarm optimization) may be combined with a localoptimization technique (e.g., Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shannoalgorithm). Since the fitting problem may be performed for frame i, thenumber of parameters may be small and allow for quick convergence.

FIG. 2C illustrates example graphical representations of the process fordetermining local bone phase. As described above, a control signal 260for a bone may be extracted from a window of N frames included in motioncapture information. The N frames may be centered around a particularframe for which the local bone phase is to be associated.

The control signal 260 may be normalized, to generate a normalizedsignal 262. Subsequently, the normalized signal 262 may be provided to alow-pass filter to generate a filtered signal 264. A sinusoidal curve266 may be fit to the filtered signal 262, and example parameters may beextracted. For example, an amplitude and phase may be extracted asillustrated in element 268. With respect to this element, the height ofthe bars illustrate the phase, the opacity illustrates the amplitude,and the slope of successive bars illustrates frequency.

Dynamic Animation Generation Process

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process 300 for dynamicallygenerating animation using motion matching based on local bone phases.In some embodiments, the system may represent an electronic game consoleof one or more processors which is configured to execute electronicgames. The dynamic animation generation system 100 may be used toautoregressively generate motion for an in-game character byimplementing process 300. The dynamic animation generation system 100may include different elements usable to generate the motion. Forexample, FIG. 1B includes a motion matching engine 120 and a posegeneration system 130. The example process 300 can be implemented, atleast in part, by the motion matching engine 120 and the pose generationsystem 130. The output of the motion matching engine 120 can be providedto the pose generation system 130. The output of the pose generationsystem 130 may be used to determine, at least, a character pose for asubsequent (e.g., next) frame. Thus, the in-game character may berendered according to the character pose in the subsequent frame. Forconvenience, the process 300 will be described as being performed by asystem of one or more computers (e.g., the dynamic animation generationsystem 100).

At block 302, the system executes an electronic game and outputs aframe. As described herein, the system may implement an animation systemusable to update one or more in-game characters of an electronic game.For example, the animation system may cause character poses of thein-game characters to be updated such that animation may be generated.

In some embodiments the system may represent an application, orsoftware, which is in communication with an electronic game. Forexample, an electronic game console may execute the electronic game andthe application or software. In this example, the electronic gameconsole may provide information during runtime of the executing game foruse by the application or software. Example information may include agame state associated with the electronic game, which may be used by theapplication or software to generate or derive the animation controlinformation described above. The application or software may thereforeupdate character poses of one or more in-game characters and provide theupdated character poses to the electronic game. In response, theelectronic game may update the in-game characters accordingly.

In some embodiments, the system may represent a portion of an electronicgame. For example, the motion matching engine 120 may be included in theelectronic game (e.g., as a module). The motion generation model maythen access the game state and cause updating of a pose of in-gamecharacters.

At block 304, the system accesses animation control information for theframe. As described above, with respect to at least FIGS. 1A-1B, thesystem may autoregressively generate animation control information.Thus, the system may access animation control information which wasgenerated for the output frame. The information may then be used togenerate subsequent animation control information for a subsequentframe.

The animation control information may include local bone phases forbones of an in-game character being controlled by an end user and/or anexternal object. Example bones for the in-game character may include thehands, legs, head, and so on. An example external object may optionallyrepresent an object with which the in-game character typicallyinteracts. The external object may also represent an object whichtypically interacts with the in-game environment. In this way, the localbone phase(s) for the external object may provide an understanding oftypes of motion that the external object undergoes. With respect to asports game, the object may represent a ball (e.g., a basketball). Withrespect to action games, the object may represent a sword, a bow, awand, a hammer, and so on.

As described above, the local bone phases may be autoregressivelygenerated by the system. For example, as the end user's in-gamecharacter traverses the in-game environment, information used to updatethe animation control information may be monitored. For example, FIG. 1Bindicates that this information (e.g., information 119) may includecontact information by the bones. As will be described in FIG. 4B, thesystem may use this information to update the animation controlinformation for use in a subsequent frame. Thus, if the in-gamecharacter's leg (e.g., foot) comes into contact with an in-gameenvironment, this contact may be used to update the local bone phase forthis leg.

At block 306, the system, determines local motion matching criteria foreach local bone phase. The animation system segments the motion matchingprocess according to the local bone phases and determines the criteriaused for performing each local motion matching process. The animationsystem can determine rules and weights for use with the present localmotion match for the individual local bone phase. The rules and weightscan be defined rules specific to different motion types in order tobetter match the local bone phase with the motion data. The animationsystem can provide the cost function and searching criteria for use inidentifying matches during the search. The animation system can furtherdefine the search vector and segmentation of search data, such assegmenting search data based on motion type. The cost functions andmatching criteria can vary based on motion type and local bone phase.

Generally, the matching criteria can be based on user input 114,character control variables 118, and the additional information 119. Insome embodiments, for each local bone phase, the motion matching enginecan perform a nearest neighbor search to identify the closest match.

At block 308, the motion matching engine determines a match for eachlocal bone phases. During the matching process the animation system canidentify the animation data closed to the local bone phase. Thecomparison can be between the 2D phase vector for the local bone phaseand 2D phase vectors for the animation data. The 2D phase vector isrepresentative of reference features of the local bone phase. Theanimation system can calculate a score based on the phase vector of thelocal bone phase and the corresponding phase vector of the potentialstart frame. The score may be calculated as a weighted average of thedifference between each of the reference features of the current frameand the corresponding reference features of the potential start frame.For example, a difference between a location of foot for the currentpose and the potential position of the pose of the animation data.Further, the weighted average may include differences between velocitiesof motion of the local bone phases as well as locations of local bonephases in three-dimensional space. Some reference features present inthe vectors may be more important than other reference features and maybe weighted differently in creating the weighted average. Theacceleration or deceleration of movement of a local bone phase and/orthe change in velocity of the local bone phase may be weighteddifferently based at least in part on the type motion. The search datacan be segmented based on the motion type. For example, the searchvector may only identify matches for motion data tagged with a specificmotion type.

At block 310, after matches for bone level phases are complete, theanimation system uses the matched animation data from each of the localmotion matching phases to generate a global character pose. Theanimation system can blend the local bone phase matches with thecharacter model to generate an updated character pose. The posegeneration system 130 can use blending to reduce the occurrence ofblurry, or otherwise unnatural, motions in order to adapt to differenttypes of motions and tasks.

Thus, the animation system may substantially generate updated poses inreal-time for each local bone phase. Since local bone phases are used,the animation system can quickly react to updates regarding types ofmotion and actions which are being performed by the end user's in-gamecharacter. As described above, the local bone phases may enhancerealistic temporal alignment of character poses to form realisticanimation of the end user's in-game character.

The animation system may additionally receive user input and/orcharacter control information. For example, the animation system may usecharacter control variables which inform, at least, trajectoryinformation associated with the end user's in-game character. If the enduser provided user input (e.g., within a threshold amount of time), theuser input may be combined with the character control variables toinform motion of the character.

Using the above-described input information, the animation system maydetermine output information usable by the pose generation system 130and to update the animation control information.

Additionally, to update the animation control information the system mayaccess game state information. As described above, the animation controlinformation may be generated for different frames which are centered ona threshold number of frames. For example, animation control informationmay be generated for a first frame of motion capture information whichis centered on a threshold number of frames. Similarly, the system mayuse game state information when generating the output from theprediction network. Thus, if the in-game character interacted with anin-game environment, this interaction may be obtained by the system.Similarly, if an opponent moved this information may be appended as aninput.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example process 400 for determininganimation control information for a subsequent frame. For convenience,the process 400 will be described as being performed by a system of oneor more computers (e.g., the dynamic animation generation system 100).In some embodiments, the system may represent an electronic game consoleof one or more processors which is configured to execute electronicgames.

At block 402, the system accesses local phase output associated with theanimation system. The animation system generates output for use inupdating animation control information for a subsequent frame.

At block 404, the system updates a character state for the subsequentframe. The output may indicate the character state for use in thesubsequent frame, such as the character pose which an end user's in-gamecharacter is to assume.

At block 406, the system updates character control variables for thesubsequent frame. As described in FIGS. 1A-1B, character controlvariables may be used to inform motion of the character. The charactercontrol variables in the output of the animation system may be combinedwith received user input. For example, the user input may represent theend user interacting with an electronic game controller. As may beappreciated, these interactions may occur slower than an output framerate of the electronic game. Thus, the user input may be combined withthe character control variables for any frame in which the end user isinteracting with the controller. The user input may also be aggregatedover a threshold number of prior frames and used to update the charactercontrol variables every threshold number of frames (e.g., every 5frames).

Since the user input is provided in the form of course, high-levelcontrols, the system may convert the user input into a similar form asthe character control variables. For example, if the end user is holdingdown a control stick to move forward, then the system may generatetrajectory information indicating that the in-game character is to moveforward. As another example, if the end user interacts with a button tocause shooting of a ball, then the system may generate trajectoryinformation indicating this type of motion.

An example technique to update the character control variables mayinclude applying use of weighting to the output character controlvariables and user input. An example weighting may be based on time. Forexample, the character control variables may include informationassociated with a window of time. In this example, the variables maystore information for a prior threshold number of frames along with acurrent frame. Thus, the information for earlier of the frames may beweighted less than the information for later of the frames.

At block 408, the system updates the local bone phases. The systemaccesses the local bone phases included in the output from the animationsystem. In some embodiments, the system may update the local bone phasesvia interpolation with the previous local bone phases (e.g., the localbone phase accessed in FIG. 4A). This interpolation may ensure thatlocal bone phases are maintained in a well-defined manifold.

At block 410, the system inputs updated animation control information.The updated animation control information may therefore represent theoutput of the animation system, optionally with modifications asdescribed above. This updated information may then be provided as aninput to the system, such that motion for the in-game character may beautoregressively updated.

Example Computing System

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of computing device 10 according to thepresent disclosure. Other variations of the computing device 10 may besubstituted for the examples explicitly presented herein, such asremoving or adding components to the computing device 100. The computingdevice 10 may include a game device, a smart phone, a tablet, a personalcomputer, a laptop, a smart television, a car console display, a server,and the like. As shown, the computing device 10 includes a processingunit 20 that interacts with other components of the computing device 10and also external components to computing device 10. A media reader 22is included that communicates with media 12. The media reader 22 may bean optical disc reader capable of reading optical discs, such as CD-ROMor DVDs, or any other type of reader that can receive and read data fromgame media 12. One or more of the computing devices may be used toimplement one or more of the systems disclosed herein.

Computing device 10 may include a separate graphics processor 24. Insome cases, the graphics processor 24 may be built into the processingunit 20. In some such cases, the graphics processor 24 may share RandomAccess Memory (RAM) with the processing unit 20. Alternatively, or inaddition, the computing device 10 may include a discrete graphicsprocessor 24 that is separate from the processing unit 20. In some suchcases, the graphics processor 24 may have separate RAM from theprocessing unit 20. Computing device 10 might be a handheld video gamedevice, a dedicated game console computing system, a general-purposelaptop or desktop computer, a smart phone, a tablet, a car console, orother suitable system.

Computing device 10 also includes various components for enablinginput/output, such as an I/O 32, a user I/O 34, a display I/O 36, and anetwork I/O 38. I/O 32 interacts with storage element 40 and, through adevice 42, removable storage media 44 in order to provide storage forcomputing device 10. Processing unit 20 can communicate through I/O 32to store data, such as game state data and any shared data files. Inaddition to storage 40 and removable storage media 44, computing device10 is also shown including ROM (Read-Only Memory) 46 and RAM 48. RAM 48may be used for data that is accessed frequently, such as when a game isbeing played or the fraud detection is performed.

User I/O 34 is used to send and receive commands between processing unit20 and user devices, such as game controllers. In some embodiments, theuser I/O can include a touchscreen inputs. The touchscreen can becapacitive touchscreen, a resistive touchscreen, or other type oftouchscreen technology that is configured to receive user input throughtactile inputs from the user. Display I/O 36 provides input/outputfunctions that are used to display images from the game being played.Network I/O 38 is used for input/output functions for a network. NetworkI/O 38 may be used during execution of a game, such as when a game isbeing played online or being accessed online and/or application of frauddetection, and/or generation of a fraud detection model.

Display output signals produced by display I/O 36 comprising signals fordisplaying visual content produced by computing device 10 on a displaydevice, such as graphics, user interfaces, video, and/or other visualcontent. Computing device 10 may comprise one or more integrateddisplays configured to receive display output signals produced bydisplay I/O 36. According to some embodiments, display output signalsproduced by display I/O 36 may also be output to one or more displaydevices external to computing device 10, such a display 16.

The computing device 10 can also include other features that may be usedwith a game, such as a clock 50, flash memory 52, and other components.An audio/video player 56 might also be used to play a video sequence,such as a movie. It should be understood that other components may beprovided in computing device 10 and that a person skilled in the artwill appreciate other variations of computing device 10.

Program code can be stored in ROM 46, RAM 48 or storage 40 (which mightcomprise hard disk, other magnetic storage, optical storage, othernon-volatile storage or a combination or variation of these). Part ofthe program code can be stored in ROM that is programmable (ROM, PROM,EPROM, EEPROM, and so forth), part of the program code can be stored instorage 40, and/or on removable media such as game media 12 (which canbe a CD-ROM, cartridge, memory chip or the like, or obtained over anetwork or other electronic channel as needed). In general, program codecan be found embodied in a tangible non-transitory signal-bearingmedium.

Random access memory (RAM) 48 (and possibly other storage) is usable tostore variables and other game and processor data as needed. RAM is usedand holds data that is generated during the execution of an applicationand portions thereof might also be reserved for frame buffers,application state information, and/or other data needed or usable forinterpreting user input and generating display outputs. Generally, RAM48 is volatile storage and data stored within RAM 48 may be lost whenthe computing device 10 is turned off or loses power.

As computing device 10 reads media 12 and provides an application,information may be read from game media 12 and stored in a memorydevice, such as RAM 48. Additionally, data from storage 40, ROM 46,servers accessed via a network (not shown), or removable storage media46 may be read and loaded into RAM 48. Although data is described asbeing found in RAM 48, it will be understood that data does not have tobe stored in RAM 48 and may be stored in other memory accessible toprocessing unit 20 or distributed among several media, such as media 12and storage 40.

It is to be understood that not necessarily all objects or advantagesmay be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment describedherein. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize thatcertain embodiments may be configured to operate in a manner thatachieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taughtherein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as maybe taught or suggested herein.

All of the processes described herein may be embodied in, and fullyautomated, via software code modules executed by a computing system thatincludes one or more computers or processors. The code modules may bestored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or othercomputer storage device. Some or all the methods may be embodied inspecialized computer hardware.

Many other variations than those described herein will be apparent fromthis disclosure. For example, depending on the embodiment, certain acts,events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can beperformed in a different sequence or can be added, merged, or left outaltogether (for example, not all described acts or events are necessaryfor the practice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments,acts or events can be performed concurrently, for example, throughmulti-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processorsor processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather thansequentially. In addition, different tasks or processes can be performedby different machines and/or computing systems that can functiontogether.

The various illustrative logical blocks and modules described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented orperformed by a machine, such as a processing unit or processor, adigital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or otherprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform thefunctions described herein. A processor can be a microprocessor, but inthe alternative, the processor can be a controller, microcontroller, orstate machine, combinations of the same, or the like. A processor caninclude electrical circuitry configured to process computer-executableinstructions. In another embodiment, a processor includes an FPGA orother programmable device that performs logic operations withoutprocessing computer-executable instructions. A processor can also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, acombination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration. Although described hereinprimarily with respect to digital technology, a processor may alsoinclude primarily analog components. For example, some or all of thesignal processing algorithms described herein may be implemented inanalog circuitry or mixed analog and digital circuitry. A computingenvironment can include any type of computer system, including, but notlimited to, a computer system based on a microprocessor, a mainframecomputer, a digital signal processor, a portable computing device, adevice controller, or a computational engine within an appliance, toname a few.

Conditional language such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, are understood within thecontext as used in general to convey that certain embodiments include,while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elementsand/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intendedto imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way requiredfor one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarilyinclude logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting,whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to beperformed in any particular embodiment.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is understood with the context asused in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y,or Z, or any combination thereof (for example, X, Y, and/or Z). Thus,such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not,imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least oneof Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or elements in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executedout of order from that shown, or discussed, including substantiallyconcurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles such as “a” or “an” shouldgenerally be interpreted to include one or more described items.Accordingly, phrases such as “a device configured to” are intended toinclude one or more recited devices. Such one or more recited devicescan also be collectively configured to carry out the stated recitations.For example, “a processor configured to carry out recitations A, B andC” can include a first processor configured to carry out recitation Aworking in conjunction with a second processor configured to carry outrecitations B and C.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may bemade to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to beunderstood as being among other acceptable examples. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: asimplemented by a computing system having at least one processorconfigured with specific computer-executable instructions, accessingfirst animation control information generated by a for a first frame ofan electronic game, the first animation control information including afirst character pose of the in-game character and, at least, a pluralityof local bone phases associated with an in-game character of theelectronic game, individual local bone phases representing phaseinformation associated with contacts of at least one rigid bodies of thein-game character with an in-game environment; executing a local motionmatching process for each of the plurality of local bone phasesresulting in a plurality of matched local poses, the local motionmatching process comprising: determining motion matching criteria formatching the local bone phase to local pose animation data for thecorresponding local bone phase; and selecting a local pose from aplurality of eligible local poses corresponding to the local bone phase;generating a second pose of the character model based on the pluralityof matched local poses for a second frame of the electronic game; andcomputing second animation control information for the second frame; andrendering the second frame including at least a portion of the secondcharacter pose of the in-game character within the in-game environmentbased, at least in part, on the second animation control information. 2.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the local bone phaseis represented by a two dimensional vector encoded with local bone phasecharacteristics of the local bone phase.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the local bone phase characteristic includeposition, orientation, velocity, and acceleration of the bone.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein selecting the local posecomprises performing a nearest neighbor search using the two dimensionalvector of the local bone phase as compared to two dimensional vectors oflocal poses in the animation data.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein determining motion matching criteria comprisesidentifying a motion type associated with the second pose of the in-gamecharacter.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, whereindetermining motion matching criteria comprises identifying a subset ofthe animation data corresponding to the motion type.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the secondpose of the character model comprises blending the plurality of localposes with a global pose to generate the second pose.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first animationcontrol information comprises information aggregated over a priorthreshold number of frames.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the local bone phases further represent phase informationassociated with an external object configured to be interacted with bythe in-game character.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the second animation control information includes updated localbone phases, and wherein the updated local bone phases are determinedvia interpolation of the local bone phases included in the firstanimation control information.
 11. A system comprising one or moreprocessors and non-transitory computer storage media storingcomputer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operationscomprising: accessing first animation control information generated by afor a first frame of an electronic game, the first animation controlinformation including a first character pose of the in-game characterand, at least, a plurality of local bone phases associated with anin-game character of the electronic game, individual local bone phasesrepresenting phase information associated with contacts of at least onerigid bodies of the in-game character with an in-game environment;executing a local motion matching process for each of the plurality oflocal bone phases resulting in a plurality of matched local poses, thelocal motion matching process comprising: determining motion matchingcriteria for matching the local bone phase to local pose animation datafor the corresponding local bone phase; and selecting a local pose froma plurality of eligible local poses corresponding to the local bonephase; generating a second pose of the character model based on theplurality of matched local poses for a second frame of the electronicgame; computing second animation control information for the secondframe; and rendering the second frame including at least a portion ofthe second character pose of the in-game character within the in-gameenvironment based, at least in part, on the second animation controlinformation.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the local bone phase isrepresented by a two dimensional vector encoded with local bone phasecharacteristics of the local bone phase.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the local bone phase characteristic include position,orientation, velocity, and acceleration of the bone.
 14. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the computer-readable instructions further configurethe one or more processors to perform a nearest neighbor search usingthe two dimensional vector of the local bone phase as compared to twodimensional vectors of local poses in the animation data when selectingthe local pose.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein thecomputer-readable instructions further configure the one or moreprocessors to identify a motion type associated with the second pose ofthe in-game character when determining motion matching criteria.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable instructions furtherconfigure the one or more processors to identify a subset of theanimation data corresponding to the motion type when determining motionmatching criteria.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein thecomputer-readable instructions further configure the one or moreprocessors to blend the plurality of local poses with a global pose togenerate the second pose when generating the second pose of thecharacter model.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first animationcontrol information comprises information aggregated over a priorthreshold number of frames.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein thelocal bone phases further represent phase information associated with anexternal object configured to be interacted with by the in-gamecharacter.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the second animationcontrol information includes updated local bone phases, and wherein theupdated local bone phases are determined via interpolation of the localbone phases included in the first animation control information.